Disposable emergency light sticks? Here’s a more sustainable option.

Ever lost your tent in the dark? It’s surprisingly easy to do, especially if you’re wild camping. Fi puts the Lifesystems Intensity Glow Marker through its paces and discovers this camping light has aesthetic as well as practical uses.

Great for multi-person events or individual adventures, the Lifesystems Intensity Glow Marker is a reusable LED glow stick with a huge range of possible uses.

Attach it to your rucksack so your team can see you, hang it from your tent so you can find your way back or use it to provide tent mood lighting when you’re head torch is just too bright.

This is one of those items of outdoor kit you might not need for every hike or camping trip but you’ll be glad you had it when the right moment comes.

Despite this being a solid piece of kit, I was pleasantly surprised by how little it weighed. It’s a bit shorter than my current single-use light stick and would fit into a larger sized first aid kit.

The straps and carabiner fixings are self-explanatory and, once I had read the instructions, I liked this light’s simple twist to operate system.

4/5 *****

PROS

Lightweight

Multi-purpose

No fiddly buttons

Strap and carabiner included

Choice of three colours

CONS

Battery required

Not as bright as a torch

On very dark or misty wild camping nights, I would fasten this light to the outside of my tent to help me find it at night. If we were night walking, it would be useful to hang on team rucksacks to help keep a group together but it isn’t bright enough to replace a torch on a night walk.

Although not as bright as a torch, the Intensity Marker only requires one AAA battery. For nervous campers and youngsters, it would make a great background light. I have already lent it to one DofE team, who really appreciated having a gentle light on all night. Held close, this lightstick gives enough light for one person to read by.

Really easy. But only once you know how the twist system works (it’s very clever). If I required assistance and someone else had to get this light out of my first aid kit, they might not be able to figure it out.

The pack didn’t give any instructions for battery changing but it was pretty intuitive.

There’s always a balance to be found between carrying too much kit and carrying enough but, as I have discovered in the past, relying solely on one source of light can be a mistake when you’re out in the dark.

I would happily swap the Intensity Marker for the traditional single-use light stick I usually carry at night but would also feel the need to carry a spare battery (which I usually have anyway as my head torch also takes AAA).

Could you survive a night walk or camp without the Intensity Marker? Yes you could. But it’s one of those items you’ll be really glad you packed if things start to go wrong. It’s amazing how much easier it is to keep calm in an emergency when there’s a bit of light around.

Any item that replaces a single-use piece of kit has to be more sustainable but it’s worth remembering that the AAA battery required for this light stick will have shelf life and need to be properly disposed of.

Durability is a key component in sustainability, and emergency gear specialists Lifesystems pride themselves on the toughness of their kit. Their Intensity Marker certainly feels tough and its ABS casing should give it high chemical and impact resistance. The lack of smaller components is likely to add to the durability of this product.

ABS plastics are fossil fuel based, can pollute the environment, and have a relatively large carbon footprint. Specific facilities are required to recycle ABS items after use. That said, I would rather buy a long lasting plastic item than a single-use one.

Lifesystems products are British designed and developed but I could not find any information on where the Intensity Marker was made.

There was only one very small piece of plastic used in the packaging for this product. The rest was easy-to-recycle cardboard.

The Intensity Glow Marker is £12.99 from the Lifesystems website (March 2025). On the same website a two-pack of single-use light sticks costs £3.00 but that doesn’t include a carabiner or strap, both of which are included with the Intensity Glow Marker.